


Senior Year Sure is a /Blast/

by turtlesquare



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Race Changes, F/F, F/M, Fusion, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Sky High au (kinda), Teen Angst, Tord has DID but its not stated outright, Trans Character, also red leader n tord r dif people in this, super powers, this is gonna get g a y
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-28 14:45:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8450455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtlesquare/pseuds/turtlesquare
Summary: There was a new kid, which wouldn't normally be too strange, except that there were /never/ new kids in this school. After all, people who inherit powers begin to develop them at a young age. So why was there a new kid now, in the last stages of high school?--High School AU! Super powers AU! Don't really know how to explain it other than that.--IMPORTANT: this work has been on hiatus for a while now. I don't know if I'll ever continue it, or rewrite it, so please stop asking.  All other questions can go to my tumblr.  Thanks.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be my work for NaNoWriMo this year! I'm super excited to start this. The idea suddenly came to me in class, and I've been racking my brain for ideas to write a multi-chapter EW fanfic, and I finally found some inspo--!  
> This isn't exactly a Sky High AU, but I got a lot of inspiration from that as well, so I figured I would mention it.
> 
> Also, this is my first (sfw) work for this fandom, so I'm a little worried about how well this will be recieved. :')
> 
> Also, even though they are not mentioned this chapter, Pay belongs to @trashpandaballs on tumblr and Tim belongs to @princeofmints on tumblr!

It was the fifth week of school when he showed up.

"Class, we have a new student," The teacher was standing at the front of the classroom, a short kid with fluffy hair and a trench coat standing next to him, "his name is Tord." The teacher turned to the kid--Tord--and pointed to a student in the classroom and mumbled something. Tord nodded and headed down the aisles, sitting in an empty seat. Huh. Apparently, the seat was pretty close to Edd's.  As in, the seat directly ahead of him. The teacher (what was his name again? Edd couldn't remember. Hell, he didn't even remember what class he was in.) began the lesson. It seemed to be about... cells? He wasn't sure, but he also wasn't exactly paying attention.

As soon as the teacher started writing something on the smartboard, Edd tapped Tord's shoulder. Edd grinned at him, and Tord just stared at him for a moment before looking away and then turning back around. Hm. He'd have to try another tactic.  He opened up his kitty-themed sticky note set, and scribbled a generic greeting on it before slipping it over Tord's shoulder. The message was tossed back over to him after a second. 

 

Edd didn't learn much about Tord through the note-passing. However, he did learn that 1. Tord had been home-schooled up until now, and 2. they had gym class, lunch, and pre-calc together. Which meant he got to see more of him. Before he knew it, gym class was coming to an end. Tord had sat out on the bleachers during the class, and Edd walked over to him once the bell rang. He was on his phone, and didn't notice Edd approach.

"Hey!" Edd greeted.  Tord flinched and his head snapped up. 

"Uh.... hello?" He said, unsure.  He had an accent, Edd noted. 

"So like, since you're new, you probably don't know anyone yet, right? So I was going to see if you wanted to hang out with me and my friends at lunch?"

"Oh, sure," He tucked his phone into his coat pocket and stood up slowly, jumping off the bleachers.

"Sweet!" Edd started walking away, Tord in tow. "I'm Edd, by the way. I'll introduce you to my friends once we get to the table. So you said you were home-schooled, but what made you decide to start school? And why so late?"

How could this kid be so energetic? Tord shook his head. "Just moved here."

"Oh! Here we are, the lunchroom," Edd opened a set of double doors for Tord, and stepped through after him. "We sit by the vending machines." He lead the way to a table where two other boys were sitting. Edd sat down next to the boy with darker skin, and Tord awkwardly sat down on Edd's other side. The boy Edd was next to noticed him, and just stared at him with blank, void eyes. They were....completely black....Did he even  _have_ eyes? The other boy, a ginger, appeared to be taking selfies and hadn't noticed Edd or him. 

"So guys, this is Tord! He's new," Edd said, gesturing to Tord. "This is Tom," The boy next to him gave a small wave and turned away to poke at his food in disinterest. "And that's Matt." Matt was still on his phone, and Edd kicked him under the table.

"Ow!" Matt whined, setting down his phone and glaring at Edd. "What was that for?" He seemed to notice Tord at that moment. "Oh, hello! I'm Mathew, but you can call me Matt." He resumed whatever he was doing on his phone after that. 

"That's pretty much it. I'm gonna go stand in line for food. Wanna come?"

"I brought lunch," Tord mumbled, sliding his bag off his shoulder and placing it in his lap.

"Alright, well I'll be right back!" He got up and set off towards the lunch line. Tord pulled a lunchbox from his bag, and then set the bag on the ground next to him.

"What did you bring to eat?" Matt asked.

"Peanut butter jelly sandwich," He shrugged and lifted the sandwich out of the container, and took a bite out of it.  Matt just continued watching him.  He was getting pretty uncomfortable, to be honest. He finished chewing his bite and set it back down. "Uh, did you... need something?"

"What's your power?" He was excited.

"....Excuse me?" Tord gave him a sideways glance.

"You can't just  _ask_ someone what their powers are, Matt," Tom finally piped up.  It seemed like he wanted to say more, but Edd arrived at the moment, and he rolled his eyes (wait, what? How did he do that?) and tossed his plate into the trash in between their table and the next table over. "Well, I'm going to the library, I need to get that book for English."

"You still haven't checked it out? We were supposed to have already read the first 5 chapters!"

"Yeah, whatever," Tom dismissed Edd and headed off. 

"There he goes," Matt sighed, staring after him. He looked back to his phone. "Which filter do you think is cuter, the deer or the dog? I still haven't decided which one to use."

"Hm. I think Tom likes the dog one better," Edd commented, shoving some indistinguishable food into his mouth.

Matt pondered for a moment. "I'll use that one, then. And send it to him." He raised his phone, getting it to the right angle, and opened his mouth slightly before snapping a picture. He showed it to Edd afterwards. "What do you think?"

"Looks fine, dude."

"What do  _you_ think?" He shoved his phone in Tord's direction.

"Um...it...looks like you, but with dog ears...?" What was he even supposed to say to that? Oh, well, Matt seemed satisfied with that answer, and took his phone back. 

"Tord, do you have snapchat?"

"Snap what?" 

"Don't-" Edd started, but was cut off. 

"Oh, it's only  _the_ best app! So, basically-"

Oh boy, were these really his new friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "On Wednesdays, we wear pink"
> 
> sorry this is so bad ahaha,,,, i didn't start writing it until 11pm, and by that time i was exhausted and also high (pot brownies yo).
> 
> Also yeeaaahhhh i know this isn't how new students r introduced,,,,let me live. ANd like....none of my high school classes had desks instead of tables, but oh well... (why is this so short??? the world may never know)
> 
> i h8 writing


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nyeheheheh
> 
> partly inspired by a true story

A few weeks went by, and Tord seemed to be getting along with Edd, Matt, and Tom. He had also talked a bit to some other kids in his classes (Patryk and Paul, if he remembered correctly). But mainly, he hung around with the three.  Only at the lunch table and class, however.  Turned out he had a class with Matt--a mandatory elective class where you were taught how to use your powers in a constructive manner--but Tord never went to it.  He didn't feel like revealing his powers just yet.  To be honest, he hadn't exactly figured out was his power was yet. He didn't know his friends', either. 

But anyways.

Earlier that day, Edd had asked if he wanted to hang out with the gang. Outside of school. Tord had never  _had_ friends before, and he felt a strange sort of excitement at the idea of doing something with people his age.  They were meeting by the courtyard after last period.  10 minutes and 15 seconds from now, to be precise.  Oh, right, he had this class with Edd. He did a quick glance around the room, spotting Edd on the other side, talking to a Latino boy.  Well, it didn't look like talking so much as arguing. He looked back down at his half-assed notes and began to doodle on the margins of the paper. 

Before he knew it, the bell had rang and kids were scrambling to get out of the room.  He just sat at his desk and shoved his binder and paperwork into his backpack.  Edd came over a moment later.

"Hey! Ready to go?" He asked.  Tord nodded and stood up.

"Yes." They headed off, towards the courtyard. 

Tom and Matt were waiting there, Tom sitting on top of one of the picnic tables. Matt was standing, presumably taking selfies, and waved when he saw the two walk up.

"Tord, selfie time, now." He was next to Tord all of a sudden, holding the camera high to try and capture them both in the picture.  He was, after all, about a foot taller than Tord was. "You'll look soooo cute with the flower crown filter." Tord didn't say anything as Matt selected the filter, and didn't even bother to smile at the camera.  The picture was snapped, and Matt captioned it with something (Tord didn't catch what) before uploading it to his story.  "Tord, you should really download snapchat.  Then you can see my gorgeous face all the time!"

"....Right."

"Really, Matt, I think we see enough of your face as it is," Tom groaned. He looked to Tord. "If you just download it, he won't pester you about it anymore."

"I'll keep that in mind," Tord shifted uncomfortably. "Where are we going, anyways?"

"My house," Edd piped up.  Tom jumped down from the table, slinging his bag over his right shoulder. Edd lead the way to his car, and they got in. Unfortunately, Tord didn't get shotgun, and was stuck in the back with Matt.  He didn't mind Matt, he just thought he was... a bit too quirky for him. Matt didn't rope him into anymore selfies during the ride, however.  Tord took the time during the ride to gaze out the window.  He hadn't explored the city since he had moved here, just kind of holed himself up in his room.  There were a lot of trees. They arrived at a small white house a few minutes later, and Edd pulled into the driveway and parked. They all hopped out, Edd beeping the car, and then making their way inside.

'Welcome to my humble abode," Edd bowed once they had entered.  It was a nice enough house.  It was clean, there were organized, evenly space picture frames on the walls, and a cat sleeping on a nearby couch.  Tord stood there awkwardly. "This here is Ringo," He gestured to the cat.

"Hello, Ringo."

Edd showed him the kitchen next.  Tom and Matt had wandered off, probably to Edd's room. Edd opened the fridge, pulling out a cola.

"Would you like something to drink? We have cola and... cola. A lot of cola." He reached back into the fridge and grabbed another can, handing this one to Tord.

"Thank you," He opened the can and followed Edd out of the room and down a hallway. Edd was saying something, but he wasn't really paying attention. They entered a large room, where the other two were sitting on a bed and watching tv. Matt patted the seat between him and Tom, and Tord graciously took it.  Edd sat on the other side of the bed.  It was a very big bed. 

"Oh yeah, since this is the master room, the bathroom is through that door there," Edd pointed to a closed door on the left side of the room. "This is all we really do, watch tv and play video games." Tord laid back on the bed and closed his eyes as Professor Why played in the background, Tom making snarky comments every now and then. 

Apparently, he had fallen asleep at some point, because he woke up at 8:30 pm with Matt passed out and his arm thrown over him, Edd laying down on his other side and Tom nowhere to be seen.  He pushed Matt's arm off of him and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He pulled his phone from his pocket, flipping through his notifications and finding three missed calls and 10 messages, all from his parents.

Great.

He nudged Edd, who groaned and opened his eyes slowly. 

"I have to go," He slid off the bed and grabbed his bag from the ground.

"You need a ride?"  Edd asked, yet didn't move from his spot.

"Ah, no, I'll walk." 

"See you tomorrow, then!" 

It was a long walk home.

 

The next chance that the four of them got to hang out was a week and a half later, on Halloween. They were at Edd's house again, but were in the living room this time, watching the second shitty horror movie of the night.  When they had all arrived, Tord had taken a two hour nap in Edd's room while the other three played some video game. The movie was amusing, at the very least--actually, it was hilarious. They all cracked jokes at the bad acting and made fun of the cgi. The porch light was off, so they didn't have to worry about trick-or-treaters ringing the doorbell and distracting them from the movie. Not that it really mattered too much.

What was even better, was that at some point, Tom had found some beer and had been drinking it since the first movie started.  His jokes were getting raunchier and raunchier.  It was absolutely killing Edd, who couldn't even go five seconds without laughing.  

"Ok, ok, Tom, just-- chill out for a second, I'm-"  Edd started, but was interrupted by Tom lifting up his shirt and moaning in an extremely high pitched voice.  Matt fucking lost it and Edd stood up and straight-up walked out of the room.  This just made Tom and Matt laugh even harder. Tord was just sitting there, hands over his mouth to try and not laugh. 

Tom kept making lewd noises, and eventually tired himself out with laughing so hard.  He yawned and leaned back on the couch, stretching his arms behind him.  Apparently the movie had ended, and they had been having too much fun to notice.  Things seemed to calm down a bit.  Edd was still in the kitchen though, and Matt left to check up on him.  Tord heard laughter a few seconds later. Not wanting to miss out, he went to the kitchen to join them.  Edd was standing over a boiling pot of noodles, which he then brought over to the sink to drain. He dropped a stick of butter into the drained noodles and left it on the counter, returning to the stove and setting his hands on the front burner.

"Isn't that hot?" Matt asked.  Edd shook his head, and pressed his right hand against the back burner (which was still on, oops).

"No, this is the hot one," He stood there from a second, then his eyes widened. "Holy Fuck!" He removed his hand and shook it quickly, turning around fast and yanking the cold handle on the sink so that cold water was running.  He held his hand under the water for a few minutes. 

"Are you alright?" Tord questioned. Matt was chuckling.

"Oh, my God, Edd," He bit his lower lip to stifle his giggles, "That looks like it hurts!"

Tom appeared in the doorway, watching.

"Uh....what did I miss?"

"Edd burned his hand!" Matt chirped. "Why did you do that, anyways?"

"Why  _did_ I do that?" He shook his head. He deemed his hand to be significantly cooled down, and shut off the water.  He then grabbed four bowls and some plastic forks, dealing everyone equal portions of noodles and handing it to them. "Anyways.  Here you guys go."

"Thanks!"

"Thank you."

"Thanks, man."

"Of course, No problem," Edd winked.

They returned to the living room and ate in silence, someone speaking up occasionally. It was a comfortable silence, and they all seemed to have calmed down a bit. Tord set his empty bowl on the coffee table once he finished his noodles, and checked the time on his phone. It was pretty late; almost midnight.  He should probably head home. He waited for everyone to finish before getting up.

"I should be getting home," He tucked his phone back into his pocket.  Edd set his own bowl onto the table.

"Need a ride?"

"I'm going to walk."

Edd seemed to contemplate that for a moment, but sighed and got up. "I'll walk you to the door, then."  Tord waved to the other guys, and walked to the front door with Edd.  He stepped outside and started off, when Edd said his name.  He turned around, and Edd leaned in.

"...what are you-"

Edd's armed wrapped around him briefly, and then were gone.

Edd was grinning at him.

"I'll see you at school on Monday!" He waved at Tord, who just stared at him for a moment before smiling and turning away.

 

Right.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, a teenage boy: wha tthe fuck are teen boys
> 
> Fun fact: im the fucker that slammed my hand on a hot burner. I got second degree burns btw. I love cooking
> 
>  
> 
> nnnn sorry if this is kind of...confusing??I wanted to write the stupid halloween scenes rip. Also, gay


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no idea what I was gonna do with this chapter tbh  
> I still don't know what I did with this chapter  
> *throws laptop* TAKE itT I jUST NEEDed to get my WORD COUNT
> 
> //I meant to finish this chapter n post it last night but I passed out rIp//

Monday was uneventful. Tord was feeling a bit awkward around Edd after the hug, but Edd seemed fine, so he did his best to ignore that it happened. Were hugs normal? When was the last time anyone had hugged him? He couldn't recall. He spent the day thinking about hugs and what they  _meant_. 

Tuesday wasn't too exciting, either.  The two kids from his other class, Paul and Patryk, invited him to hang out with them for their lunch period.  It meant that he missed gym, but that was ok.  Gym class wasn't too important, and he got to make more friends.  He also had two lunches that day.

He didn't go to school Wednesday.  Turns out, he had got a call home saying that he skipped class. His parents didn't take that too well. He spent the day holed up in his room. 

Now Thursday. Thursday was....interesting, to say the least.  He had walked into the lunchroom, to his table, and lo and behold, there were two Matt's. Tord thought they were twins at first, and he just stood at his spot at the lunch table and stared.  They were chatting with each other.  They were even wearing the same thing.

"Uh...Matt?" He say very carefully, and very slowly.  A drawl, almost.  They both turn to him and say 'Hello!' at the same exact time, same tone of voice, same  _everything_.  Tord shudders and takes his seat. "Um. Huh. Um." He stutters a bit more before deciding to just shut up. The twin or whatever it was is suddenly just  _gone_ , replaced by a small poof of translucent purple smoke. "Who was that?"

"Who was who?" Matt asks, pulling out his phone. "Oh! Did you download snapchat?"

"The guy that you were talking with. And yeah, I did."

"Oh! Yeah, him," He yawns. "What about him? Also, enter your username," He hands his phone, snapchat open, to Tord.

"Who was he?"

"Who...was who?"

"..."

He hears a 'bang', and looks over to see Tom with his face smashed into the table and groaning. It appeared he had gotten tired of listening to the exchange between Matt and Tord.

"Matt can make clones of himself," Tom grunts. He lifts his face up and off the table, and sits there with his hands in his lap. "Where's Edd?" He directs this to Tord. Well, to be fair, the last words he had muttered were to Tord too, but they were more out of annoyance, so.  He didn't count that.

"Now that you mention it, I didn't see him in gym. But he was in homeroom." Tord shrugs. He realizes he still has Matt's phone, and hands it back to him.

They sit in silence as they wait for lunch to end.

Edd does show up, much later, in last period.  Well, he was already in class by the time Tord got there. He waved at Tord when he entered the room, but didn't get out of his seat to say 'hi' or anything.  Tord took his seat and got his notebook out.  Of course, he didn't pay attention, just mindlessly doodled cats in the margins of his paper.  One of the cats was big enough that it took up the entire corner and covered the spot where his name was written down. 

And then the bell rang.

Wait, that couldn't be right, could it? Class had just started. But when he looked at the clock, it showed that 45 minutes had passed.  While he was starting to come up with some conspiracy theory on how maybe he was abducted by aliens, Edd trotted over to him and leaned onto his desk.

"Hey, Tord!" He flashed a toothy grin, and his voice brought Tord out of his trance. "I was wondering if you wanted to stay over tonight? There's no school tomorrow, since it's a grading period or something. Wait, no we just had the grading period..... Well, anyways, there isn't school tomorrow! For whatever reason."

"Oh, sure. I should probably text my parents, but-"

"Great! Do you want me to swing you by your house so you can pick up your stuff? Then we can head to my house?"

"Yes, ok," Tord stretched out before standing up, and they were off. 

Edd had never been to Tord's house. He didn't even know where Tord lived. So driving there was a bit difficult, since it was the exact opposite direction of his own house, and he wasn't used to driving in that area. The two arrived at a pristine white duplex, and Tord instructed Edd to wait in the car while he ran inside to drop his school stuff off and get some overnight items.

10 minutes passed. 

Then 15.

After about 25 minutes, Edd was starting to get worried. Had Tord forgotten, maybe....? But as he was debating going up to the house, he heard a door slam and saw Tord heading his direction. He hopped into the car, a stuffed backpack in tow, and gave a curt nod.

"Good to go." Tord said quietly. He seemed to be shaking slightly, but had a blank look plastered over his face.

"Great!" 

 

Tord met Edd's grandfather, Edward, that night. He also learned that Edd's father had gone missing years prior, and no one actually knew who the mother was  _other_ than Edd's father.

Apparently, Edward was a retired hero. He mainly fought bandits, and murderers, and bad people that didn't't have powers. There hadn't been any villains in the area for quite some time, so they weren't really his concern. According to Edward, Edd's father (who was named Edwin, what was up with the name scheme here..?) was a hero in training. He had done some basic crime fighting before he had gone missing, but not enough for him to become recognized by a name.

Long story short, Tord got a full history on the Gold family. 

Edward went to bed pretty early, which left Tord and Edd alone in the living room. It wasn't quite an awkward silence, not to Edd, but Tord was a bit uncomfortable. Edd flipped on the tv, and it looked like it had been left on the news channel.

" _\--a resurfacing of the Red Army, it appears. However, there have been no signs that Red Lea--"_

"Edd!" Tord squawked, very suddenly. Edd turned to him. "Uh.... When are Tom and Matt coming over? Also, can we watch something else?" 

"Tom and Ma.... Oh. It's just us tonight, if that's cool?" Edd cocked his head to the side, and flipped through the channels on the tv, settling on the old sci-fi channel.

"Oh, yeah, that's fine." He bit his lower lip.

It was quiet once again, and Edd had turned back to face the tv. He kept sneaking glances at Tord, who wasn't really paying attention to anything, much less the alien themed movie that was playing. Edd thought of a way to break the silence. Then, he spotted Ringo walking into the room. He beckoned the cat, and Ringo happily wandered over to him and jumped into his lap.

"So, Tord, do you have any pets?" Simple enough question. And it got Tord to focus back in on the real world.

"Ah, no, I don't."

"Well, Ringo is open for petting anytime!"

Tord stared down at Ringo and reached his hand out to scritch behind his ears. He had very soft fur, Tord was discovering.

There was a horrible, high-pitched noise, like nails across a chalkboard. The two looked to the back door, a sliding glass door, and there was a calico scratching at it. Edd smiled.

"Ringo, look! It's your boyfriend!"

The cat.... was gay?

"Can you hold Ringo for a moment so I can let thY other fella in?"

"Uh, sure..." Edd set the cat into Tord's lap, and went to get the back door. The calico slinked inside and headed straight for Tord. It jumped up onto the couch, trying to fit itself on Tord's lap, against Ringo.

"Technically, since he's not our cat, gramps doesn't like me letting him inside. But what he doesn't know won't hurt him," He comments as he plops himself down on the sofa. "I call him Peaches."

"Peaches and Ringo."

"Peaches  _slash_ Ringo, if you catch my drift."

"..I don't get it."

"Oh. It's a, uh, fanfi-- it's just a thing people say," Edd actually seemed flustered at this. It was very endearing. Tord rested one hand on Ringo's head and the other on Peach's. Edd cleared his throat. "Is there anything you usually do when you hang out with friends? Tom and Matt and me usually just screw around and play video games. And drink. I don't know how, but Tom always manages to find alcohol to bring over."

"Actually, I've never had friends before you, so.... I don't really know how to hang out with people." 

"Oh! Well, we need something to do. Let's see." He snapped his fingers. "A movie! What's your favorite movie?"

"Insane Zombie Pirates from Hell: 2, probably."

"I've only seen the first one. Is the second one any good?"

"Yes." He shifts his legs a fraction of an inch, and Peaches meows at him. "Alright, well, the acting sucks, but the graphics aren't that bad and it's good to laugh at."

"We should watch it."

"Right now?"

"Why not! I think it's on Netflix," He presses some buttons on the remote and grabs a controller to turn on the system. Once it's booted up, he pulls up Netflix. "There it is. Want some popcorn?"

"Sure."

Edd is once again off the couch, and in the kitchen. He returns shortly after with a bowl of popcorn. He sets in his own lap after he settles back down on the couch and starts the movie.

 

Tord fell asleep during the movie. Edd had woken him up once it was over, and they had headed to Edd's room to sleep. They just laid in Edd's bed and cracked jokes for a good hour or so before Edd got tired and passed out.

Tord just kind of laid there, waiting for sleep to take him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dIsSoCiAtIoN!!11
> 
> I actually skipped my gym class so that I could finish this chapter and start the next one. But anywayyyys 
> 
> To clear things up, if it was confusing, Edward Gold (saloonatics) is Edd's grandpa, and Edwin is actually future Edd. Except he's not Edd from the future in this? Hes edds father. Ugu  
> Yeeeeeeeeeah.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't decide whether i wanted to add dat angst to this chapter or not. Rip.
> 
> i listened to the heathers soundtrack on repeat and cried bc i couldnt figure out what i wanted to write
> 
> also bc i just got back from a 10 hr shift and work another 10 hr in like...6 hours......
> 
> Also, say a brief hello to Matilda.

Tord had woken up to Edd spooning him.  Which isn't too weird, in the grande scheme of things, but considering he had never cuddled anyone before and had a hard time even grasping the concept of cuddling, it shook him a bit. So, noticing that Edd was still out, he politely removed his arm from around his own waist, and sat up. Then got off the bed.  And then grabbed his phone and headed into the bathroom. 

A few minutes later, when he returned from the bathroom, Edd was sitting up and stretching.  Edd yawned, and laid back down, staring sleepily at the ceiling. Tord joined him, tucking himself back underneath the blankets.

"Mornin', Tord," Edd greeted, voice low and quiet.

"Good morning, Edd."

"Do you like bacon?"

"Yes!"

And just like that, Edd rolled out from the covers and pulled Tord's arm, attempting to drag him out of the bed.  He complied. They slowly made their way down to the kitchen, where Edd went straight to the fridge and pulled out a package of bacon.  Tord attempted to hop up onto one of the counters, but he was just a bit to short and couldn't make it, so he gave up.  Instead, he leaned against the counter.  Thankfully, Edd hadn't noticed Tord's  _miserable_ failure.   His phone vibrated.

A snapchat from Matt.

To be precise,  _12_ snaps from Matt.  He groaned and opened the app to get this whole snapchat thing over with.  Matt had sent him a few pictures (selfies, of course), and a short video of a girl that looked almost exactly like him (another clone, maybe?) captioned with 'this is why pot brownies shouldn't exist'.  The last snap was a picture of the girl again, this time captioned 'send a selfie, my sister wants to see what u look like ;~)'. 

Ah, so it was his sister. He hadn't seen her around the school before.  But by the looks of it, she appeared to be older than Matt.  So probably an older sister. Tord flipped to the camera screen, and turned on the front facing camera.

....Did his hair really look like that?

He had an extreme case of bed head, apparently. He smoothed it down so that it wasn't sticking up in random places, making him look a bit more presentable. But he still looked like shit.  Oh, well. He held the phone a bit away from his face, not exactly knowing how to properly take a selfie, and snapped the picture.  As for a caption, he put the middle finger emoji.

Classic.

Matt viewed it almost immediately, then  _replayed_ it, and responded.  Tord's response to that was to flip the camera and snap a quick photo of Edd cooking bacon and send it.  The picture he got in return was simply a black screen with a winking face. What did that even  _mean_?

"Alright, bacon's done!"  Edd left the stove and grabbed some plates from the cabinet, and slid the bacon onto them. A plate was handed to Tord. "Would you like something to drink?"

"What is there to drink?"

"Hm. Cola. And water.  We have some milk, but I think that it's expired."

"Cola is fine," Tord waited for Edd to get the can from the fridge, then the two headed to the living room and sat on the couch.  The tv was then turned on and switched to some livestream of cats.  Tord couldn't complain.  They ate in relative silence, and when they were done, Edd went upstairs to get changed.  Tord had just slept in his clothes (minus the coat), so he didn't have to worry about changing into something else.  Edd returned, donning his green hoodie and black straight-leg jeans.  He looked good.  Better than Tord could say about himself.

"Uh, gramps just texted me, and I guess I have to go meet him somewhere, so I should probably drop you off soon," Edd pushed up his sleeve and looked at the watch he was wearing, "Sometime within the next 30 minutes."

"Oh, ok, I'll just.... go get my stuff together. Yes." Tord got up awkwardly and went to do that.

 

Tord was hoping the car ride would be them just sitting in silence, maybe listening to some crappy music on the radio. But, oh boy, Edd had other ideas, apparently.

"Um... Can I ask you something? I mean, of course, if you don't want to answer you don't have to."

"Yeah, sure, go ahead."

"How come you always walk home from my house? It's, what, a 45 minute walk at least?"

Ok, so that wasn't exactly what Tord had been expecting.  But, it still stumped him. He  _knew_ why, but what he didn't know was whether he should tell Edd or not.  Not like it was some big secret, it really wasn't, but he felt that it let on to much more than he was ready to talk about.

Ah, well, here he goes.

"Well, you see, I'm not really supposed to be doing anything other than going straight home after school."  Dare he say more? 

"Why not?"

"Uh... My parents don't really want me to be spending time around people.  Or something. I don't really know. But, if you dropped me off and they saw your car, well..."  He left it there.  Edd didn't say anything else, and the car ride was once again awkward.  

They reached the duplex eventually, and Tord leaned forward in the seat and slung his bag over his shoulder.  Once again, Edd stopped him before he could leave. 

"Hey, if you ever need something, or want to talk, or  _anything_... I'm here, yeah?" Oh boy.  The look on Tord's face almost made Edd regret saying anything. But then Tord's face softened a bit, and he  _blushed_ , and it was worth it.

"O-ok, Edd," Tord bit his lower lip, seeming to contemplate something, then nodded and exited the car.

Edd sighed in relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> w hat if i just made every chapter title the name of a heathers osng omg im dying
> 
>  
> 
> this is such a short, pointless chapter???!! Well maybe not pointless. SOme things r relevant. ANYWAHS


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had like 3 dif ideas for this chapter and didn't know which one to use, so.
> 
>  
> 
> Hellucard's one appearance in my entire fic so far

On Saturday, Tord  got a message from Tom. Which in itself wasn't strange, friends texted each other. 

But Tord hadn't given Tom his phone number.

Yet somehow, an hour later, he found himself taking a bus down to an arcade downtown. Tom said that he worked there, so he got himself and whoever he was with free admission, and wanted to know if Tord wanted to go and hang out. He said yes, not being able to remember when the last time he had been to an arcade was, or if he had ever been to one in the first place. Plus, he hadn't really hung out with anyone other than Edd, and this is how you make friends, right?

The bus ride itself was maybe 15-20 minutes, and the walk after that was about 5. It was actually pretty chilly outside, but he wasn't used to walking very much, so he was sweating profusely. He reached the arcade, where Tom was leaning against the exterior and smoking a cigarette. And shaking. He looked _freezing_ , only in a thin blue hoodie and skinny jeans. Tord wasn't sure if Tom was even looking at him, but he waved, and Tom lifted his hand in a salute.

"Hello," Tord greeted. Tom snuffed out his cigarette on the wall and dropped it onto the cement. 

"Hey."

"You look very cold," Tord began to shrug off his coat, and Tom just gave him a bewildered look.

"Why are you taking your coat off?" He was completely still as Tord offered his coat over. "I'm not too cold." He said, yet took the coat and slipped it on anyways. Thankfully, Tord had a habit of wearing jackets that were too big, so Tom, being much larger, could actually fit into it. A blessing. "We should probably go inside."

"Oh, yeah," Tord was glad he had worn a sweater under his coat, because now he was a bit cold. But the arcade was very warm, and the cold faded away very fast. Tom waved at someone behind the counter, who dabbed at him, and then he headed towards another room, Tord in tow.

The room was huge, dimly lit, with a slanted floor. There were tables and chairs near the top where the entrance was, and down the center aisle were shooting and hunting games. The aisle on the left side had claw machines, slot games, spin the wheel, those sort of things. On the right aisle, there was skeeball and other similar games that Tord couldn't place the name of. At the very bottom, there was an empty stage, with two rows of chairs on front of it. There were more claw machines, and one of those Monopoly jackpot games. Tom nudged him, pulling him out of his trance.

"The other room has those old ass alien invader and mario games and a spongebob jellyfish thing, if nothing over here catches your eye."

"Uh, why is there a stage?"

"Oh, that." Tom just stared at it and then began walking down the aisle. "Ya know, I've worked here for two years and still have no idea."

Tord followed behind him, taking everything in. There were a lot of games. A lot of choices. He was a bit overwhelmed. But Tom seemed to have something in mind, so that calmed him down a bit. Tom stopped outside a game with a cover over it, and turned to Tord.

"This one is probably the best. The bench in it moves, and you have to shoot shit. I fucking suck at it, though. It's two player, wanna take it for a whirl?"

"Sure." Might as well, right? Besides, Tom said he would pay for everything, so Tord wouldn't be wasting his own money. Not that he had any money. They lifted the curtain and got inside, situated themselves on the bench, and Tom popped in four coins. Tord took one of the fake guns, a red one, and held it while the intro played. Tom took the other one, which was, coincidentally, blue. After the intro, they were thrown straight into battle, fighting a giant spider and aliens.

Wow, Tom really did suck at this.

Tord seemed to be doing fine, though, and Tom was making annoyed grunts while Tord was trying not to laugh. Probably 5 minutes later, they both had ran out of lives, and the game went back to the start screen. Tom huffed and slid the blue gun back into its spot, and Tord did the same with the red gun.

"What next?"

"Well.... We could play a few more games, then get something to eat."

"Sounds good."

"Well duh, I came up with the idea, after all." Tom smirked. Tord rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but smile a bit. They wandered around the room a bit, finding a two player zombie shooting game, and they attempted that for a while. Tom fucking sucked at that one, too, and Tord ran out of potions so they both died and the title screen came back on. From there, they played skeeball, and went to the other room and took turns playing alien invaders, along with some games that will actually give tickets out.  At some point, both of them had won jackpots at separate games, and they combined their tickets. Tord was a bit worn out, and Tom seemed bored, so they went to cash in their tickets.

"Hey, Tom," the blond behind the counter greeted, voice slurred. 

"Hey, Hellucard," Tom nodded. He set the tickets on the counter, and Hellucard set them into a trey and then set that onto a scale, and did some calculations.

"I'm surprised you aren't saving them this time. Also, you have..." The blond started, and Tord didn't quite catch the number.

"Yeah, well," Tom shrugged, then turned to Tord. "Pick a prize, dude."

"What?" Tord looked at the tacky prizes, ranging from candy to stuffed animals to lamps. Why was Tom giving him all the tickets? Well, it didn't really matter, anyways. "Uh. I'll take the..." He waved his hand vaguely. "The cat plush, I guess." He's handed a plush of an orange cat with little devil horns and holding a staff. 

"We're gonna eat, so see ya later, man," Tom gives a small wave, and the two head off. Once they're outside, Tom pulls another cig and lights it.

"I didn't know you smoke." Tord says, mostly just as a way to get a conversation going.

"Yeah, but not as much as Edd or Matt."

"Edd smokes?" Tord could see Matt smoking, after that snap he was sent, but Edd?

"Pot, mostly. But not very often. So... Ok, I guess I smoke more than him. But it's not really important." A few moments of awkward silence later, Tom is done and and the cigarette has been put out. "Do you want froyo? There's real food, too, if you want that instead."

"Frozen yogurt is fine."

"Dude, just say froyo. It's easier." Tom pulls his wallet from.his pants pocket, doing a quick money check. Alright, so he does have enough for food. Good deal.

"So uh... where's the place?"

"Hm? Oh, it's a few stores down." Tom pushes himself from the wall so they can get a move on. The froyo place is exactly 3 stores away. It's surprisingly warm inside, which Tord wasn't expecting at all, and he almost wanted to take his sweater off, but he wasn't wearing anything underneath. Whatever. Tom had already began to fill his bowl, birthday cake flavor, and Tord scanned the options. He ended up getting half match a and half taro, and as for toppings, he put those little jelly fruit balls.

"What are those?" Tom asks, as he scoops some miscellaneous cookie crumbles on top of his.

"I don't actually know, but I've seen them in anime, so.." Tord stared down at his bowl for a moment.

"You watch fucking anime?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh my god." Tom is paying now, seemingly exasperated. "No wonder you and Edd get along so well." He hands the cashier some money, telling them to keep the change. They choose a seat near one of the windows to sit at.

"Um, so...." Right. What to say? "How long have you and the others known each other?" Innocent enough.

"Me, Edd, and Matt?" Tord nods. "Well, me and Edd grew up together. Our dads 'worked' together, and a lot of times when my dad was away, Edd's dad would bring him over while he watched me and my siblings. As for Matt, we met freshman year, after he transferred over. Apparently, one of his dads actually knew Edd's dad."

"How many siblings do you have?" He pauses. "Wait, Matt has two dads?"

"I have 3. A twin sister, and two younger brothers. And yeah, Matt does. Is that a problem?"

"Oh, no, it's not! I've just never met anyone with two dads. Well, I haven't met a lot of people, to be fair. I'm not--not homophobic, or anything, I'm actually-' God, he's rambling. "Yeah, no, it's not a problem. At all."

"Alright, dude," Tom shrugs and continues to eat his froyo, unfazed. Tord is slightly embarrassed (a lot, actually, judging by how pink his cheeks are), and he shoves spoonfuls of the dessert into his mouth.  Not too long after, they're both finished and just sitting there. Tom is tapping away on his phone and Tord is trying-and failing-to not stare at him.

"Hey, why did you transfer during senior year, of all the years?"

"I was homeschooled, and then we moved, and figured it would be good to get some human interaction. Or something. School is better than being stuck at home all day, so I'm not complaining." 

"Fair enough." And Tom was back to his phone, doing whatever he was doing. "Hey, Matt's having a party next weekend, you goin'?"

"Oh, I remember him sending me a text about that. I might go. I don't know what sort of present to get him, or what he'd want. I also don't have money, so there's that. We'll see."

"Makeup is always good. So are mirrors. Shiny things, too.  Anything, to be honest." Tom's phone starts vibrating, and he presses a button before he holding it up to his ear.  He talks to someone on the other end for a few moments before hanging up. "Ugh, so I gotta go. It was pretty lit today. I'll see ya around, yeah?"

"Yeah, see you Monday." Tord gives a half-hearted smile and then they both leave, heading their separate directions once they get outside. It's a pretty mellow ride home, Tord spacing out the entire time and almost missing his bus stop, but thankfully he doesn't miss it so he manages to get home.before his parents are back from work. Once inside. he does his usual; hiding out in his room until the next morning.

And then he realizes, Tom still has his sweater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am super behind on nanowrimo. Which means, I may upload a few short chapters, or I may make one or two long chapters before returning to ~1-2k chapters.  
> But nothing is guaranteed
> 
> When did this get so Tord-centric? Originally it was gonna center around Edd. Sighs
> 
> Um I wrote this chapter on my phone, so if there are typos, lemme know


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (kind of) introducing: a fuckton of people

Matt was, to put it simply, just not having a good day. First, he went to Starbucks to get his morning frappe, only to find out he had no money. He was _sure_ that he had money in his wallet last night! Then, when he got to school, he discovered that it was late start, so he was an hour early. And since it had began to rain, he couldn't walk back home, but he also couldn't go inside because the doors were locked. So he was stuck on the bench in the front of the school, thankfully covered. 

The day seemed to get worse. He wasn't sure he even wanted to think about it. He was thankful that he at least had brought something to eat, and lunch was there before he knew it. None of his friends were at the table, though, and he was too bummed to clone. So he just sat there, eating his lunch in silence.

But, then Tord showed up. And with him was Tom. Edd wasn't at school again, third day in a row, he had said something about a cold, so that part wasn't too off. But Tord Sat next to him, which was a bit strange. He was sandwiched between the two, who seemed to be bickering over something. Not serious arguing or anything from the sounds of it, though. 

"Hey, guys," Matt sniffled.

"Hello, Matt." Tord.

"Sup, dude?" Tom.

Wait, did Tord have coffee? He was holding a tumbler with little hummingbirds on it. He noticed Matt staring at it, and glanced down at it.

"Uh... It's hot chocolate mixed with coffee. Want some?" Tord offers the cup over, and Matt takes it gratefully.

"Thank you so much! You're a savior," And then he proceeds to down half of the container. Tord just rolls his eyes. He hands the cup back to Tord and leans his chin onto his hands. "Today has been so bad and there's still two hours left. What am I going to do?"

"Well, don't die, Matt," Tom says, tapping his fingers on the table and staring at Tord, who has seemed to check out again. He lifts the cup to his face without even looking at it, and tilts it a bit and misses his mouth, and just sets it back down and rests his hands palm-down atop the table. Matt is fiddling with his phone, checking to see if there are new snapchat filters. There aren't.  He checks out instagram, where there's a picture of Squidward dabbing with an aesthetic background, and closes instagram.  And turns off his phone.

"Your party is tomorrow, yes?" Tord asks, quietly, suddenly.  He seems to have snapped out of his trance.  Matt nods.

"Yes! Are you coming?"

"I wouldn't miss it," Tord gives Matt a small smile. "I got you a present. I hope you will like it."

"Oh, Tord!" He wraps his arms around Tord, who squawks, and then goes back to sitting forward, hands on his face. "That's so nice of you, you didn't have to!"

"Oh, uh, y-yeah," Matt fails to notice that Tord's face is bright red, but Tom doesn't, and he snickers.  Tord's face flushes even more, and he rolls his eyes at Tom.

"I'm super excited!"

 

 

Matilda was a blessing, really.  Matt was glad she was in town for his birthday; she helped clean up the house, and even bought alcohol (Matt said he didn't  _need_ it for the party, but she insisted, 'Well, what else are older sisters for?').  It was just cheep beer from the corner store, but it was good enough.  And she was also  _great_ to take selfies with, and was good at bringing people out of their shells, and Matt could just go on and on.

She had managed to convince their dads to go out for the night, a date night, so that Matt could have his party in peace.  Which meant that the house would probably get trashed. But he would clean it, or Matilda would, so it was no big worry.  The doorbell rang, alerting him of the first person to show up.  It was Edd, and along with him was Tom and Tord.  He let them inside, and Edd and Tom settled on the couch.  Tord seemed a bit uncomfortable, however.

"Oh, right! You've never been here before!" Matt nudged his arm, and lead him around the house. He pointed out all the rooms, the bathrooms, the basement, the kitchen, pretty much everything. Once he was done, he lead Tord back to the living room, where Matilda was in a deep discussion with Edd and Tom.  Maybe deep wasn't the right word.  They seemed serious, but a moment later, Matilda said something that had them both laughing.

Right as Matt was about to sit down, the bell rang again.  It was Eduardo and Jon, and Matt welcomed them inside.

Next was Todd. Then Mark.

And an assortment of more people and a few hours later, it was a  _party_.  Everyone was mostly in the dimly lit basement, some people on the couch and watching tv, two people were playing beer pong and a girl had passed out on the pool table.

There were.... a lot more people that showed up than Matt was expecting.  There were around 30 people, probably, even some +ones that he didn't recognize.  But it was all cool! The more, the merrier. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and so was he, so it couldn't be better.

He walked around, engaging in idle conversation with people here and there, not really looking for anyone in particular.  He got caught up in a chat about fashion with Mark, learned a few rumors from Jon (really, who would have pegged Jon as the gossip?  That's why he never got caught), and decided to take a shot with Patryk.  

Things were great!

The party went strong until around 3 am,  when people started heading off.  Eventually, it was down to him, Edd, Tom, Tord, and Eduardo's group.  The lot of them were just lazing about in the basement, (most of them) drunk off their asses, cracking jokes and just having fun in general.  Todd was flirting with Tord, well,  _attempting_ to flirt, since Tord kept making sarcastic quips back at him.  It kind of made Matt...  _jealous_? What? Well, anyways, Jon kept leaning into him so that they could take snapchats together, and Eduardo was holding a conversation with Tom and Edd.  Which also made Matt jealous.  He decided that he needed to chill, and taking selfies with someone  _almost_ as cute as he was, was the way to do it!  Jon was very photogenic, and they took a  _lot_ of pictures.  Matt then turned to taking snaps of his friends, giving them stupid little captions, and time seemed to just fly by. Around 5, everyone figured it was time to go.  Matt bid them all farewell individually, and was so exhausted after they left that he passed out on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted to spend the day writing smut bUT i was like 'gotta get this up,,,,i gotta' so here it is 
> 
> *thumbs up emoji*
> 
> also imma try to get another chapter up tonight, but dont hold me to that


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ANGST ANGST ANGST

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! Updated tags! Some important info, my dudes!
> 
> i wrote this chapter in my notebook a few nights ago but wasn't sure whether or not I should even /use/ it, but eh, it was already written

Tord had said that he wouldn't do it.  He told himself that he was fine, that everything was fine, yet the next moment it's 2am and he's knocking at Edd's door, soaking wet and in nothing but his hoodie, shorts, and slip on shoes.  He didn't even know if Edd was awake; he had sent him a text in what felt like  _ages_ ago, but he didn't get a response, and his phone was dead and laying in his hoodie pocket.  He wrung his hands together, shaking, waiting for the door to open.

Which it did.

He was greeted by a very sleepy looking Edd, who was also  _concerned_ , and of COURSE he was concerned, who the fuck shows up at someone's house, uninvited, in the middle of the night?  But Edd didn't look him over, just moved to the side so Tord could bring himself inside. Tord was shaking a  _lot,_ and he was freezing, and bruised, and he felt like absolute  _shit_ , and he wanted nothing more in that moment than to just be  _gone_.

"Tord," Edd said simply, closing the door and biting his lower lip. "Uh..."  Edd was at a loss for words.  The knock at the door had startled him awake, and apparently he had received a text from Tord that simply read 'omw', which was why he even opened the door in the first place. 

And he was glad he had.

Something was very off, aside from the obvious.  And he knew he should say something, but he just didn't know what to say.  Tord was looking at him, and he was looking at Tord, and he almost wanted to--

Well.

"Do you want to take a shower? I can give you some dry clothes and throw your's in the wash," Edd said at last.  Tord nodded, and Edd lead him to his bedroom, and to his bathroom, standing in there awkwardly for a moment with Tord before he pointed to a clean towel hanging up. "You can use that. I'll set some clean clothes on my bed, and I'll be in the kitchen. Feel free to use any of the soaps."

"Thank you," Tord whispered, and Edd left him so he could shower. 

In the kitchen, he put a small pot on the stove and filled it with milk, honey, and some spices (nutmeg and cinnamon).  He wasn't sure if Tord would want it, but Tord probably wanted some comfort, right?  I mean, that had to be why he showed up.  That, and a safe place.  _A safe place from what?_   Edd wasn't sure, and maybe he shouldn't think too hard about it, because he was starting to piece things together that could be  _entirely_ wrong.  But he was almost confident in his suspicions. 

Tord took a much shorter shower than he had expected him to, and he shuffled his way into the kitchen, wearing Edd's clothes, and he looked cute, and Edd knew that wasn't that he should even  _think_ of thinking about in this moment.  But Edd had given him fuzzy socks, and an oversized sweater (well, it wasn't big on  _Edd_ ), and pajama pants with cats on them.  Tord's wet hair was tied back, and in the light of the kitchen, Edd could tell that he had a slight black eye and a pale bruise on his jaw, with a darker, much larger one on his neck.  He could imagine that there were others littered on his body.

"I made spiced milk, do you want any?"

"Yes, please," Tord takes the mug that is handed to him, and they go to the living room, sitting on the couch.  Edd doesn't turn on the tv, and Tord doesn't ask him to.

"Hey, Tord?" Edd asks.  Tord sets his mug down on the coffee table.

"...yeah?"

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, but I am here for you, and uh.. I mean, I would like to know _why_ you're here, of course."

"It's just-just the usual.."

"The usual?"

"Um..."  Tord stares away, at anything but Edd, and he brings his knees up to his chest and hugs them. He's still shaking, and he looks near tears,  and it  _hurts_ to know that he's feeling that way. "Just...my parents, yeah? It could be worse."  He takes in a deep breath, and Edd vaguely registers that something has crashed on the ground next to him, because he's shifting so that he's closer to Tord.  

"What do they do?"

"Just.. Stuff? I don't know if I'm comfortable talking about it..." He's staring at the tv, brows furrowed, and it switches on.

Huh?

"Your power is telekinesis?"  Edd asks, thankfully that he can switch the subject since it was very obviously making Tord uncomfortable.  But Tord looks just as surprised as Edd feels, and he looks away from the tv so that he can meet Edd's eyes.

"Apparently?" He wants to test something else out.  Next thing he knows, the stuff that he had unknowingly knocked onto the ground is back on the table. "I just... assumed that I didn't inherit powers."

"Hey, you know now!" Edd says, with more excitement than he thought he could muster, considering how late it was.  He lets out a yawn, which in turn makes Tord yawn. "It's late, we should probably sleep?"

"Oh, yes, you're right," Tord stands up very slowly, and so does Edd, and they head upstairs to his room.

They lay in the bed, a flower-shaped night light casting a soft glow over the room.  Tord is huddled against Edd's side, and Edd has his arm wrapped around him.  He should... probably say something, before they pass out.

"I really, really like you, and I want you to know that I'm here for you," Edd starts, and Tord hums to acknowledge him, "If you need to stay here, for however long, you can."

"Thanks, Edd."

"You're welcome," He turns to his side, facing Tord, and hugs him to his chest, and presses a light kiss to the top of his head. "Goodnight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love to make Tord s u f f e r : ^ )
> 
> does this even count as angst?????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????? anyhow, yeah,.. 
> 
> still no relationship tag, and u will see why very soon. *ominous music plays*
> 
> Tango Maureen from Rent was stuck in my head the entire time I wrote this, ugh
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> WHAT IS THIS LMAOOO!!!1


	8. UPDATE

the election is destroying me, and Trump is going to win, so please excuse me for not posting a chapter today---and possibly not for a few more days.  

I will keep yall updated

 

Hopefully I will gather up the motivation to start another chapter tomorrow

 

stay safe, fellow americans


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> goin to a protest tomorrow (thursday) and i work all weekend, so i may not update. Not sure, tho. Thats why i have this lil filler chapter here.
> 
> i had to stop so many times writing this bc stuff was happening and i was laughing so hard that i couldnt breathe. LOng story short, Yo soy no bebo chocolate caliente ever again
> 
>  
> 
> also! Tim belongs to Zac ( @princeofmints on tumblr)

Edd woke up later than Tord this time.  At first, he had thought Tord had left.  But when he went down stairs, he discovered Tord sitting on the couch, having a conversation with Edward.   Upon further inspection (snooping, really), Edd discovered that it wasn't a serious conversation.  They were talking about...

...School.

Edd groaned, passing them and going straight for the fridge.  There wasn't much in the way of breakfast food at the moment, but there were frozen waffles in the freezer so he went with those.  Judging by the plates in the sink, his grandpa and Tord had already eaten.  The waffles took about two minutes to toast, and he went back out into the living room, where Tord was now alone on the couch.  Edd took a seat next to him, munching on a waffle.  Tord's bruises looked worse, but the normal dark bags under his eyes seem to have lightened up.  Hopefully that meant he had slept well?

"Where'd he go?" Edd asks, referring to his grandpa. 

"Uh, he said he had some errands to run, and left."

"Well, I hope he's getting groceries."

Tord was staring down at his hands, curling and uncurling his fingers. He was....very out of it. Edd finished his waffles and returned the plate to the kitchen, grabbing a can of cola and once more sitting on the couch.

"How long do you need to stay?" Edd said, a bit louder than he intended to, and Tord snapped out of it immediately.

"I don't  _need_ to stay, I can go home whenever I want," He paused, "I-I mean, I  _should_ be able to go home. It's not like I was kicked out, exactly. So there...there isn't a problem. Whenever you want me home, I can go home."

Edd frowned.

"You weren't  _exactly_ kicked out?"

"Ok, well, things got bad- _really bad_ -and I left without thinking, and my father basically told me not to come back.  Well, to be fair, that's not exactly what he said, since it was in Norwegian and Norwegian is hard to translate directly into English, but.." Tord shrugged. "It would be nice, to stay.  If that's alright. I can do house work, or something, so I'm not just wasting your space and food."

"Tord, you can stay here for as long as you need, my grandpa won't mind. And you're not a waste of anything," He grabbed Tord's hands. "You only need to do chores if you want to.  We have a spare room, or you can stay in my room with me, whatever works."

"Thank you, Edd."

"Of course."

 

 

Later that day, they were driving to Tord's house so that he could pick up some clothes, toiletries, etc..  Tord was near hyperventilating when they arrived, but Edd managed to calm him down before he went inside.  Thankfully, they had stopped by at a moment when Tord's parents weren't home.  As Edd waited in the car, he recieved a message from his group chat.

      Matt: Are we still on for tonight?

     Tom: mine @8

Well shit, he had forgot about the movie night.  He responded by asking if Tord could come to (if he would even want to come), and Tom said 'yeah' while Matt sent a sparkly heart emoji followed by three exclamation points.  Tord returned to the car, carrying a large backpack (just one? wouldn't he need more stuff?) and a laptop bag. 

"Ready to roll?"

"Yes."

"Oh, by the way, Tom's hosting a movie night at his place tonight.  Wanna come? It'll just be us, Tom, and Matt."

"Uh, what movie?"

"Heathers, probably."

"...I have no idea what that is."

"Some musical that Tom likes.  He likes to deny that he enjoys anything other than horror, but, well, everyone knows better. He's not as edgy as he makes himself out to be."  

They arrive back at Edd's house soon enough, and Edd shows him one of the spare rooms, where Tord can unpack his items.   Tord also plugs his phone in, since it had died last night, and he now had his hands on a phone charger.   He also decided to take a nap before going to Tom's house.

Edd packed his bag, he wasn't staying the night at Tom's but he was bringing popcorn, his phone charger, and drawing supplies (the amount of times that Tom had chosen this movie--he would probably spend the majority of it doodling).   He woke Tord up, and the two headed out.  Tom lived only a few minutes way from Edd, so they arrived pretty quickly.   Tord had never been to Tom's house, and it was almost surprising how big it was.  Once they were inside, Tord was immediately tackled by a little kid.  Well, a big kid.  A tall kid. A  _very_ tall kid.

"SCRIBS!" Tom shouted, and the kid--Scribs?--got off of Tord and stood there while Tord wobbled back up.  Tom was there the next instant, giving the kid a stern look. He turned to Tord with a sigh. "This is my youngest brother, Tomi. We call him scribble, or scribs. Tomi, this is Tord."

"Hi!" Tomi shouts, then waves and wanders off.  Tord catches a glimpse of someone else, in what appears to be the kitchen, as he's lead to a large room with a giant sofa and a huge wall-mounted flatscreen tv.  He gets situated in a spot in between Matt and Edd, and Tom boots up the game station and turns on netflix.

Another boy walks in, this one closer to Tom's age, but much taller, and much skinnier.  The tips of his hair are dyed blue, and he has an undercut mohawk type hairstyle. He's also dressed very nicely, a contrast to Tom.  

"Hey, have you seen Tamara?"

"Uh.... I think she's out training or somethin', I dunno," Tom shrugged, eyes fixed on the tv.  

"Hey guys!" The other boy said, and then spotted Tord.

He just couldn't catch a break, could he?

"Hi, I'm Tim," He greeted, taking a step towards Tord and sticking his hand out.  Tord shakes it warily.

"Tord.."

"Oh,  _you're_ Tord? Tom talks a lot about you!"

"Tim, get out."  Tom grits, glaring at Tim.  Tim backsteps and makes to leave. 

Matt turns to look at Tord, about to say something very interesting, when he's completely side tracked.

"Tord, what happened to your face?" He gasps.  Tom looks over at Tord then, too, and his brows furrow a bit.

"I fell. Off a bed.  And punched myself in the face in the process."

"Oh, no!" Matt lifts his hands to his face. "Falling out of bed is the  _worst_!"  Tom, however, just gives him a strange look before turning back to the tv and starting the movie. 

Sometime during the movie, Matt inches closer to Tord, until he's flush against Tord and is actually resting his head on his shoulder.  Edd's leaning against him as well, and Tom is slightly pressed against Matt.

By the end of the movie, everyone is exhausted and majority vote has ruled that they all spend the night at Tom's house.  Tom folds the couch down into a bed, closing the door to the room and shutting off all the lights except a lamp in the corner, and throws a large blanket from the cabinet over them.  He squeezes himself next to Edd, leaving the formation as:  Matt, Tord, Tom, Edd.  

Somehow, it turns into a giant mess of limbs. Matt spooning Tord, who has one of Tom's arms wrapped around him while Tom is laying flat on his back with Edd clinging to his side.  Everyone says their goodnight's, settling down to sleep.  Tord feels warm, and comfortable, and for the first time in a long while, he feels  _safe._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU where hillary won. AU where bernie made it far enough to even be in the presidential election
> 
> Tomi is pronounced tome-ee  
> A lorge familee
> 
> CUDDLE PUDDLE !  
> CUDDLE PUDDLE !!  
> CUDDLE PUDDLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> the thing i have planned for the next chapter, oh ho ho,... prepare for some angst or whatev


	10. Tord gets a boner and s u f f e r s

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weeee had to leave about 20 minutes in bc the anarchist group showed up and were waving around a gun. We managed to leave right before shit went down, too.
> 
> But here's another chapter~
> 
> a stranger things reference...... telekinesis is a pretty uncommon power in this au, btw.
> 
> I didnt add as much angst to this as I was planning... yall r lucky

Tord woke up at some point in the early morning, for no particular reason, other than that he was restless.  Tom was huddled against his back, a bit  _too_ close, and Tord could feel a lot more than he wanted to. Especially since, apparently, Tom had stripped down to his boxers at some point.  So he got up, off of the sofa-futon-thing, and headed to Tom's kitchen.  He needed the bathroom, but it hadn't been shown to him.

Oh, there was someone in the kitchen.

It was a man, much older than himself, that looked almost exactly like Tom, except with much lighter skin and... electronic eyes?  Some sort of glasses with neon green eyes.  He was sitting at the kitchen table and drinking coffee while a laptop was settled in front of him.  He looked up at Tord as he entered, quickly breaking the silence.

"Oh, I haven't seen you before..." His electronic eyes squinted.  "You look strangely familiar, though.  If you're one of Tamara's boyfriends, sneaking out..."

"Wha--? Oh, no! No, I've never even met her before, I was just sleeping with Tom and--" He groaned, "Not with him, just next to him. Ok, I guess that counts as-- I'm one of Tom's friends."  Tom's dad seemed satisfied with this answer, and chuckled.

"I know, I was just messing with you, kid.  What's your name, anyways?"

"Tord, sir."  He shifted his weight onto his other leg, eyeing an empty chair at the table.  

"Tord.  Oh!  Yes, Tom talks about you a bit. Sit, sit."

Tord takes a seat.

"So, you just transferred this year?"

"Yes, sir."

"Please, call me Thomas."

Thomas, Tom, Tim, Tamara, Tomi....... Honestly, he thought the names in Edd's family were weird, but this.... He could only imagine how Tom's mom's name played into this.

"So, Tord, what's your power?"

"Uh...." Was this something that parents are supposed to ask? He thought powers were supposed to be private. "I can move stuff....with my mind..."

"Telekinesis, huh? Just like El," Thomas chuckled a bit.  But Tord wasn't laughing, and he caught on. "Oh, you were being serious.  Well, that's... Unusual. I've only heard of one other person in the past decade having mind related powers, and that's... You don't happen to know who the  _Red Leader_ is, do you?"  He was getting suspicious, oh no.

_Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck-_

Somehow, Tom must be psychic, because he walked in right as Thomas was about to speak again. He was groggily rubbing his eyes, staring down his dad.

"Ugh, you woke me up," He grumbled, straight-lining towards the fridge.  He unscrewed the lid to the milk and took a swig straight from the gallon. He didn't even bother putting the cap back on when he set it back in the fridge and shut the door.  He groaned and took a seat next to Tord.  "I blame you for waking me up, too.  I ended up huddling against Matt and he elbowed me in the face when he turned over."

"I'm... sorry?"

"Good. You should be."  He rubbed his eyes again. "Why are you awake, man?"

"Bathroom. I don't know where it is, though."

"Fuck, I thought I showed you-"

"Language, Tom," Thomas sighs. Tom furrows his brows at him.

" _Frick_ , I thought I showed you.  Anyways, if you head down the hallway, it'll be the third door on the right side."

"Thank you," Tord got up, glad for an excuse to get away, and slipped off to the bathroom.  Tom was left with his own father, who was giving him a  _look_.   _That look_. 

"What do you want, dad?"

"That boy, Tord. Do you happen to know who his parents are?"

"Um, no? Why would I? I just know that they're shitty." Ugh, what was his dad getting at now?

" _Shitty,_ how?"

"I don't know, c'mon," This answer doesn't satisfy his dad, "Ok, so I guess he got kicked out and he's staying with Edd right now.  That's all I know.  I don't even know where he  _lives_."

"Alright, Tom.  Just be careful with that one."

"What does that even mean?"

Tord comes back then, seeming to not have heard any of the exchange.  Tom gets up, and gently rests his hand on Tord's arm.

"Let's get back to bed."

 

 

Tord woke up much later, around three, sandwiched between Matt and Tom.  They were both taller than him, and while Matt was skinnier than he was, Tom was a bit thicker (chubbier, really) than he was, and the two of them generated a lot of heat.  He was sweating.  And he was still wearing his black hoodie and sweatpants, which didn't help.  But he didn't want to take his hoodie off, since he was wearing a short-sleeve shirt under that, and, well. He was scared that someone would notice, so.

Tom nuzzled his nose into Tord's neck, and  _nope_ , that meant it was time to get up again.  But he couldn't escape both of their grasps, so he laid there and suffered.

Ok, to be honest, it was very endearing. Minus the sweating.  He had never been more thankful that he was wearing sweatpants, because if not, he'd probably be suffering even  _more_.

He really hated puberty.

Matt's hand slipped from resting on his rib cage to resting on his waist, and that meant that it was  _definitely_ time to get up.  No excuses.  He heard a chuckle, and looked to the foot of the sofa futon, where Edd was sitting and watching him.

"Just a tip, since it's near impossible to escape when they do this," Edd started, and held back laughter, "If you can manage to jab Matt in the ribs, he'll wake up.  And he'll probably whine loud enough to wake up Tom.  Tom's a pretty light sleeper." 

Tord  _did_ manage to stab Matt in the ribs with his finger, and he woke immediately and  _yelped_ , which caused Tom to blink his eyes and unwrap himself from Tord.  Mission accomplished.  If only he could hide the fact that his face was bright fucking red.  Tom awkwardly coughed.

"We don't speak of the cuddling, by the way."

"Uh, um..."  Ok, so Tord was a bit too flustered to say anything.  He gave a weak thumbs up as Tom sat up.  Annnd with Tom getting up, the blanket was slightly pulled up too,  _off of his lap_ , but no one seemed to notice.  Except Matt, who didn't say anything ( _thank God),_ and instead winked at him.  Which was probably worse.  He'd never get that stupid wink out of his head now.  He forced himself up and crossed his legs.

"So what's the plan for today?"  Edd asked.  Tom shrugged.  Matt rested his hands behind his head, still laying down. "Oh, come on guys, we can't just laze around all day doing nothing!"

"Says who?"  Tom grumbled.

"I agree with Edd. Exercise is good!" Matt was way too energetic for just waking up.

"Well, exercise isn't exactly what I meant..."

"Aw." Matt frowned, but didn't seem to upset. "I guess swim season does start up soon, so..."

"Oh, God," Tom glared at Matt, "I never want to see you in a speedo again.  Don't need that image reburned into my brain."

"It makes me faster!"

"Yeah, ok, just like shaving your legs does."

"Hey! It really works!"

"Alright, so we've crossed exercise off the list," Edd interjects.  "Any ideas, Tord?" Tord just looks at him, not having expected him to say anything.

"We could always... Um.... Yeah, I don't know," Tord yawns, and scratches his arm.  "What's this 'swim season' thing?"

"Matt's on swim team."

" _Varsity_ swim team, if I may add,"  Matt sits up, and waggles his eyebrows.  "You should come to one of the meets sometime."  He lays an arm around Tord's shoulder, grinning at him.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Tord squeaks, and Matt looks down at his lap to see if he's actually... "Right now.  I'll be right back." Tord ducks out from under Matt's arm and leaves.

"Matt, if you could just  _try_ not to make Tord uncomfortable, that would be cool," Tom grunts out, standing up to look for the clothes he had shucked off last night.

"I wouldn't say 'uncomfortable' is the right word." 

Tom pulls on his band t-shirt and skinny jeans, having no idea where his hoodie ended up.  He then swats at the other two, so that they get off the futon, and he pushes it back into sofa position and folds up the blankets to set in the corner. They sit back onto the sofa, each doing their own thing. Tord returns a bit later, face slightly less flushed, and sits next to Edd.

"How was the bathroom?" Matt asks.  Tom punches him in the arm.

"Don't be gross, Matt." Edd sighs. "Well, if we don't have anything else to do, I guess we could toke at my place."

"Sounds good to me,"  Tom agrees.

"I can go, but I can't engage in any risky behavior!" Matt lifts his chin a bit.  

"I have.... no idea what that means."  Tord comments, and Edd glances at him.

"It means get high, basically."

"Oh."

"Have you ever smoked before?" Tom asks, and Tord shakes his head. "A shame.  We should totally do that, though. A solid plan."

"Yeah, sure." Edd stands up and grabs his backpack.  Tom stands up, too, and so does Matt.  Tord goes with the flow and stumbles up.

"Oh, right, hold on, I'll be back in a sec," Tom says, and walks off. He comes back, holding Tord's trench coat, and hands it to him. "Forgot to give it back after the arcade."

"Thank you,"  Tord accepts his coat back, and pulls it on over his hoodie.  It smells like Tom, and while he's not an expert on these kinds of things, he doesn't think that it would be noticeable if Tom had only worn it once.  Just an idea that he would tuck in the back of his mind until later.  Edd says something to them all that Tord doesn't catch, and then they're heading out, to Edd's car.  It's a nice day, sunny, but not too warm.  It doesn't feel like November at all.  Tord doesn't get shotgun, again, and is stuck in the back with Matt, again.  Not that he minds.  It's a quick ride, then they're back at Edd's.  He goes up to the spare room that he's staying in, to grab his phone and turn it on.  He heads back downstairs, waiting for his phone to boot up and receive notifications.  Edd pulls out a Tupperware container from under the couch, which contains a lighter, a pipe, and a few small packets.  

Huh, he had a message.  It's not from his father, though, it's from an unknown number identifying himself as Paul. Oh, shit, right, he had made plans to study with Paul and Patryk today. 

"Uh, hey, so I guess I made plans to study with someone but completely forgot..."  Tord starts, and Edd smiles.

"Hey, no problem! Do you need a ride?"  Edd hands the container off to Tom, who fiddles with the contents.

"Yeah, to the library."

"Alright, I'm on it." He stands up, brushes off his lap, and points at Tom. "Don't smoke all of it."

"Yeah, whatever, I won't."  Tom grumbles as he pulls out the pipe and inspects it.

"To the library!"

 

Turns out, the library had been a bit of a ways away.  Edd didn't ask who Tord was meeting with, not wanting to seem rude, and just told Tord to text him when and if he needed a ride back.  Tord said whatever and headed inside to meet with Paul and Pat.

There were still there, even though Tord was an hour late, without his textbook or notepad or even a pencil.  Pat noticed him first, giving a small smile and nudging Paul.  Paul looked up and attempted to smile, though, it looked more like a grimace.  Whatever.

"Uh, hey," Tord whispered as he took his seat. 

"Hey!  Didn't think you would make it, since you didn't answer your texts last night."

"Oh, uh, I was busy." Tord wrung his hands together under the table, avoiding eye contact.

"No sweat, man. It happens."  Pat waved his hand dismissively. Tord let out a sigh of relief.  "Since you don't have your stuff, want to just head to my place and hang?  Me 'n' Paul couldn't really get any studying done, anyways."

"Sure?"

And with that, they left, Patryk driving them to his house, which wasn't very far at all.  They arrived at an unremarkable house, which was also unremarkable on the inside, and went into Pat's room.  It was decked out in posters, and there was a small poster with the Red Leader's sigil, which made Tord a bit uncomfortable.

Ok, a lot uncomfortable.

Tord laid in one of the bean bag chairs, as Paul sat on the bed and Pat switched on the tv. 

"My brother and his friend might be hanging around somewhere, so beware of that."  Pat then sat next to Paul.

 

The evening was pretty uneventful, actually.   He did up meeting Pat's brother, Pay, and Pay's friend, Ded, who looked a  _lot_ like Edd (and, hadn't Edward mentioned Edd having a brother? He'd look into that).  Pat dropped him off at Edd's place around 10, and the door wasn't even locked, so Tord had no trouble getting in.  The three were still in the living room, which smelled like weed, and they were cuddled together on the couch, watching a cat show on the tv.  Edd was the first to notice him.

"Welcome back, Tord! How was studying?"

"We didn't get a lot of studying done.."  Tord sits down on the sofa next to Matt, who is the only one out of the three who isn't high.  Tom's face is flushed, and his eyes are droopy, and he seems half asleep as he's laying his head on Edd's shoulder.  Edd's eyes are squinted a bit, and hey, Edd's hair isn't in his face for once, it's pushed out of the way.  "Hey, Edd, do you have a brother?"

"Yeah, why?" He asks, yawning.  Tord shrugs.

"Uh, does he hang around someone named Pay?"

"Yes, he does!"  He gives Tord a curious look. "You're friends with Pay?"

"Oh, no, with Patryk."

"Oh..." He lets his sentence end, not saying anything more. 

"Uh..."

"Did you want to take a hit?" Edd asks, motioning towards the pipe, which is now on the coffee table.

"No, thank you,"  Tord politely declines.

"Alright."

"Hey, Tord, do you care if I room with you tonight?  I don't feel like walking home, or sleeping on the sofa.  And I absolutely  _hate_ the smell of weed, and Edd's room is going to reek of it with them sleeping in there." Matt asks, and, there seems to be a glimmer in his eye, but ok. Whatever.

"Uh, sure, that's fine." Tord shrugs, not meeting Matt's eyes. 

"Well, I'm going to head up."

"I will, too.  I'm pretty tired." He stands up with Matt, and turns to the other two.  "Good night, guys."

"Good night!" Edd smiles at him, and Tom is completely out.

They make their ways up the stairs, and to the spare room, where Tord plugs his phone in once again.  When he turns around, Matt is shirtless, and, ok, that's not what he was expecting Matt to do.

"Uh, um, Matt, what are you-"

"Oh! You don't mind me sleeping in just my undergarments?"

"I... No, that's fine."  He coughs awkwardly and slides into the bed.

"You're going to sleep in your clothes?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Isn't it uncomfortable sleeping in a hoodie? And warm?"

"I guess..."  He sits up for a moment to tug his hoodie off, and boy, was that a bad idea.  Matt's eyes seem to catch on his wrists, and that's not a situation he wants to be in at all.  Matt doesn't say anything, just crawls under the covers with him, and turns to him.  Tord lays back down as well, and they lock eyes, Tord quickly looking away.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your... you know..."

"It's exactly what it looks like."

"Oh,"  Matt turns to lay on his back, and lifts one of his hands up to look at it. "I, uh, used to have that problem, too, I guess.  Freshman year, after my first relationship. Well, and some other things were going on, too.  I don't know if you really want to here this, but you're not alone, ok? I'm here, and so are Edd and Tom."  He says, very quietly, and Tord is almost shocked.  Matt seems to confident, so happy with himself. But... it helps, maybe a bit, that Matt didn't freak out or treat him lesser, or anything like that, and to know someone who has had the same thoughts... And then Matt is cuddling into his side, resting his chin on top of Tord's head, and slightly crushing Tord against him.

"Thank you, Matt," He mumbles.  Matt sighs.

"No problem, dude. What else am I here for?" He shifts his legs a bit to get more comfortable. "Sweet dreams, Tord."

"Good night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said that it was gonna get gay
> 
> also, i believe i work a 12 hour shift tomorrow, so don't expect an update. Unless I get off early. Yeah.
> 
> Little does Tom's dad know, Tamara is a lesbian. Also.....Tom's name is actually Thomas, JR. BC i hate myself and can't come up with original names for anyone.
> 
> that little exchange with tom's dad is like, the most tord has spoken in this entire thing. an awkward baby
> 
> Matt's only on swim team bc i needed an excuse for him to own/wear a varsity jacket. And to have slight muscles. and to have the others see him shirtless and wet. and stuff. anyways *coughs*
> 
> Pat's brother, Pay, belongs to @trashpandaballs on tumblr!! Ded belongs to @duke-of-slime on tumblr! sum good boyos, if i do say so myself (and i do)


	11. Don't Do Sadness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stop being emo, Tord  
> actually, can everyone just stop being emo for a moment?
> 
>  
> 
> i wanna give the chapters titles, so imma go back and do that maybe. They will all be the titles of songs, except the update, and future updates.

Tord's parents didn't seem to care that he was gone, or, that's what he assumed, since neither his mother or father had made any effort to contact him.  Although, they had installed a tracking chip in him when he was younger, so if they really wanted to get him, they knew where to go.  But still, they hadn't even sent a message to complain, or anything.  Tord assumed that they were just getting as much work done that they could now that he was out of the way.

Not pleasant thoughts.

He had a lot of thoughts like that as the week progressed, slowly immersing himself more in the thought that they didn't want him, and if his own parents didn't even want him, how could his friends?  He tried to avoid his friends, but considering he lived with one of them, he couldn't really do that.  He spent a lot of time either over thinking and making himself panic, or dissociating.   But it seemed that with the holiday season coming on, Tom had picked up more hours.  And swim team had started, so Matt spent most of his time at practice.  Edd was in his room quite a lot, working on art commissions.  So Tord didn't need to actively avoid them, it seemed that they did all the work for him.  He didn't do much, he'd just sit in bed and stare at the wall, and next thing he knew, three or four or five hours had passed.  The frequent loss of time didn't bother him too much, really, it's not like he was doing anything worthwhile anyways.  He hadn't even realized that he'd stopped going to school, until Edd brought it up when they crossed paths in the hallway.

"Hey, Tord," Edd started, surprised to see Tord out of his room.  It seemed like Tord spent all of his time there.  Tord just looked at him blankly, and then said 'hi' back.  "How are you doing?"

"Uh, fine?"

"I haven't seen you around, here or at school," He said, and Tord just shrugged.  He was completely out of it. "Oh, well, you don't need to confine yourself to your room.  I miss hanging out, and so do Tom and Matt."

That wasn't really what Tord wanted to hear.  He blinked, walked away to hide in the bathroom, and probably cry a bit.  Gross.

Edd sighed.  He had to do something, right?  This wasn't normal.  He went back to his bedroom and messaged his group chat with Tom and Matt, telling them to meet at the park in half an hour.

 

 

"Ugh, why are we here, of all places? It's fuckin' freezing outside," Tom complained, pacing back and forth next to the park bench.  Matt seemed just as curious, but he wasn't voicing it.

"I think we need to do something."

"Do something? What do you mean?"  Matt said, completely oblivious, as per usual.  Edd scowled.

"About Tord. Like.... an intervention."

"Tord's an alcoholic?"

"What? No. I mean, do something with him, or do something that will remind him that we're his friends. He's been.... well, I don't know.  Depressed, probably, among other things. Every time I see him, he's dissociating. I'm worried."

"That explains why he hasn't been answering my texts or snaps.  We could try to take him to a movie?"  Matt suggested.  Tom finally took a seat.

"The only movies out right now are Christmas movies, next idea."

"We could take him to dinner?"

"Dude, why are you giving date ideas?" Tom groaned.

"Hey, friends can go on dates without it being a real date!"

"That made no sense, Matt." Edd shakes his head. "We could have a movie night.  Not at my place, though.  He's been cooped up there for a while."

"We can do it at my place,"  Matt offers. 

"Sounds good to me," Tom shrugs.

"Alright, good deal.  I'm free.... pretty much anytime."

"I actually have next weekend off, for once."

"There are no meets or practices during the weekends, so I'm solid as well."

"Let's do this, then."

 

 

When the weekend came around, Edd hadn't thought of an excuse for how to get Tord out of the house.  So he didn't make  one up.  He didn't tell the full truth, he just said that they were having a movie night, and it was mandatory for Tord to come.  Tord just rolled his eyes, but he was at Matt's house, sitting on Matt's bed, surrounded by his three friends.  So far, so good.  He also didn't seem too out of it, and was smiling shyly as Tom made fun of Matt.  Edd was staring.  He should probably not stare, Tord might catch on.

Matt switched on Hulu, and settled in between Tom and the wall.  Tord was on Tom's other side, with Edd next to him.

"What do you wanna watch, Tord? It's your turn to pick."  Matt asked, scrolling lazily through his list.

"Uh... I really don't know.."

"Oh, you really like the Insane Zombie Pirates from Hell series, right? Why don't we binge watch those!" Matt searched them up, and clicked on the first one. They were all quiet as it started, watching pretty intently even though they had all seen it. Tord was the first one to crack a joke about the movie, and from there it escalated, until they weren't even paying attention anymore, too busy screwing around and making jokes.  Even when the next movie automatically started, they were still joking and having a blast.

The night was going great.

When Edd and Tord left for the night, Tord received a hug from Matt, and surprisingly, one from Tom as well.  Once Matt had finished squeezing the life out of Tord, Tord got caught up in the mood, and wrapped his arms around Tom.  Tom was momentarily shocked, but quickly hugged Tord back, actually blushing for the first time in quite a while.

Tord was sleeping in Edd's room with him that night, and he had tired himself out from having so much fun, and had passed out pretty quickly, curling himself against Edd's back.  Edd was tired, but restless, and apparently so was Matt, because he just spammed the group chat with emojis.  And then, because Matt was good at it, he found a way to single-handedly make things awkward.

     [Matt}: Hey guys, I have a question? :s

     [Edd]: what is it

     [Matt]: Why did we ever stop the whole fwb's thing? ;0

     [Matt]: ...

     [Matt]:  Guys, it's been 5 minutes.  Don't leave me on R :(

     [Tom]: stfu matt

     [Matt]: Well, hello to you too, Tom! :)

     [Tom]: go 2 bed ho

     [Matt]: But I want to know? :x

     [Edd]:  are we really gonna talk about this right now

     [Matt]: I couldn't sleep, and it just came to me.  Are we ever going to talk about it???

     [Tom]: mayb if u dint get back 2gether with fuckface it wuld still b goin on

     [Edd]: tom thats a bit harsh. but yeah i agree

     [Matt]: :(

     [Matt]: Ok, but theoretically speaking, could we ever... do that kind of thing again? :$

     [Tom]: making out wit friends aint fwb matt also lmao dint kno u knew what theoretically means

     [Matt]:  Ok, whatever.  The question is still there. >:$

     [Edd]: is it really a good idea? i dont want tord to be 4th wheeling

     [Matt]: Tordy can join~! ;3

     [Tom]: matt y do u do this

     [Edd]: how do we even know that tord likes guys in the first place

     [Matt]: Well, he /did/ get a boner at Tom's house. And it wouldn't hurt to ask...

     [Tom]: wtf r u tlkn abt a 'boner'

     [Tom]: w8

     [Tom]: ok that explains a lot

     [Edd]: either he says yes or we ruin our relationship with him lmao

     [Matt]: Alright, ignoring Tord for a second here...  Would you guys still want to even do that with me? Like.... a real relationship?

     [Tom]:  ugh if it will male u shut up

     [Matt]: Well that's /1/ yes! Edd?

     [Edd]: jadjjKJ@IU$&$

     [Edd]: we shouldnt make these decisions at 2 in the morning

     [Edd]: but for now my stance is yes

     [Edd]: tbh idk if i want this whole thing if tord isnt in it tho.  all or nothing right lmao

     [Tom]: gay

     [Matt]: Tom, you've sucked a dick before, I don't think you get to call Edd gay.

     [Tom]: fucking gay as shit boi

     [Edd]: lets just sleep on this decision.....we can talk more tomorrow....................

     [Edd]: night guys

     [Tom]: gay dreams edd ;)))))))

     [Matt]: Oh my god.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the timeline, It takes place in the last week of November. yeah. anyways lmao
> 
> SHIP SHIP SHIPS SHISPA  
> lmaooo
> 
> text conversations are a good way to get up word count without having to bother with writing   
> i am. so sory if u didnt want e/m/t/t


	12. Fuck Off, Matt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update............. Some stuff happened and I didn't get time to write at all. I am super sorry, especially since this chapter is kind of filler-y.

The next morning was pretty uneventful, that is, until Edd remembered the stupid fucking conversation from the night before. Was he even considering this? Ugh. He groaned and rolled himself out of bed, making his way towards the kitchen.

To be fair, he missed what Tom, Matt, and him had. And at the time, he had wished it was more. And he thought about that a lot, too. He had just pushed it to the back of his mind, but now that he was thinking about it, yeah, he still had feelings for his friends. But now Tord was in the equation. He wasn't really sure what to think.

Tord was actually in the kitchen that morning, just sitting and playing around on his phone. He looked up as Edd entered and smiled.

"Good morning, Edd," He greeted, and Edd smiled back.

"Good morning, Tord. How did you sleep?"

"Ah, I slept well, thank you. How about you?"

"That's good.  I slept alright, didn't fall asleep until pretty late because Matt was being annoying, though."

"Oh, yeah, I guess he texted me at 3am but I was asleep.  When does he even sleep?"

"Matt might as well be a vampire," Edd paused, and hoped that Matt had enough sense to not mention the 'thing' from last night to Tord. "What did Matt say?"

"Uh, he just sent me a heart emoji."  Tord shrugged. Edd sighed. So it looked like Matt hadn't said anything.  Speaking of Matt, he should probably check the group chat. There were no new messages, but it said that Matt was online, and then almost as if Matt was waiting for Edd to open the chat, he sent a message.

It was simply a 'hello' with a smiley face after it. Edd sighed and said 'hi' back. Tom wasn't on, which meant he was either asleep or at work. Well, he usually did night shifts, so he was actually probably still asleep. At 11am. It was possible he was ignoring that chat altogether, he did that sometimes.

"Edd?"  Tord asked quietly.  Edd sat across from him at the table.

"Yes?"

"Do you--Well, I was wondering.... Uh. Ok, so..."  It seemed he couldn't figure out what he was trying to say, and he groaned and rested his head into his hands. "Nevermind."

"Alright.." Well, whatever it was, surely Tord would remember soon enough.  Edd's phone vibrated, alerting him that Matt had sent another message. 

     [Matt]: Did you guys think about it? ;}

     [Tom]: fck fof

     [Matt]: *Fuck  *off

     [Tom]: stfu

     [Edd]: we have the entire day to think about it then we can decide

     [Matt]: Aw, ok. Well.... I, for one, am down. Of course.

 

Edd just sent a thumbs up emoji, and Tom didn't respond after that. Alright. The more he though about it, the more flustered he got, and he could feel his face turning red.  When he looked up from his phone, Tord was lazily gazing at him, tapping his fingers on the table slowly.  But he shifted his eyes when Edd looked at him, instead staring at the wall.  Something about his phone caught his attention, and the next moment he was texting someone.

"I guess Matt wants me to hang out with him?"  Tord breaks the silence, once again meeting Edd's eyes. Fuck, ok, Edd hoped Matt wouldn't do anything weird.

"What are you guys gonna do?"

"No idea.  He just said he would pick me up in an hour or so." Tord paused, rereading his text. "Matt can drive?"

"Oh, well, you see.." Edd bites his lower lip. "He  _can_ , technically, he's just... How do I say this?.. Not very good at it. He also blares his music annoyingly loud, and sings along.  It's an experience."

"Oh, boy..."

"Yeah. I wish you luck."  Edd stumbles up and goes for the freezer, pulling out microwave waffles. "Did you eat?"

"Oh, no, but Matt just texted me saying that we are going to eat at the Mall, I guess."  Tord's staring at his phone, brows furrowed. "He's spam messaging me.  How do I get him to stop?"

"There is no stopping Matt once he's started."  His waffles pop up eventually, and he noms on them as he sits back down.

"Is his music taste at least good?"

"Uh, well, it's not really my taste, and I don't know what kind of music you like either, so... That really depends.  It's very pop-y.  He once played 'i kissed a girl' five times in a row," Edd shoves half a waffle in his mouth, continuing to talk, "Tom punched him and long story short, we got pulled over but the officer found it so funny that he let us off with a warning."

"Why were you pulled over?"

"Matt was swerving so badly that the officer thought he was drunk." Edd grimaces. "Matt's a real pro."

"Sounds like it."

"Oh! Speaking of music, what kind of music do you even like?"  Edd shoves the other waffle into his mouth, waiting til he finishes his sentence this time.  Tord shrugs.

"I don't really have a preference.  I listen to a lot of rap, I guess, if you could call it that."

"Rap? Tom does too. But like, screamo rap.... Like.... Linkin Park."

"Oh, my God."

"Tom's hashtag edgy.  He also unironically listens to the Shrek musical soundtrack.  And a lot of broadway music."

"There's a Shrek musical?"

"Oh god, yeah.  He's made us sit through it so many times.  It gets worse every time, somehow.  If you spend the night at his house without the rest of us there, he'll probably make you watch it."

"Sweet mother of God.." Tord stands up then, and brushes off his sweatpants.  "I'm going to go change and burn the image of someone dressed as Shrek out of my mind.  Oh god, that means that someone sings in a Shrek accent, I'm--" He cuts himself off and shakes his head, walks away.

Edd's left by himself then, and he texts Tom.  Maybe the two of them can have some one on one time, it's been a while.

 

Tord could only ever recall coming to Matt's house for Matt's birthday party, and strangely, he hadn't met his dads or his older sister.  But when he got there, the three were sitting on the couch.  Matt awkwardly brought him in front of them, where he stood awkwardly.  One of the two men was taller, broader, with styled hair and nice dress clothes.  The other was a bit shorter, with messy hair and.. a metal jaw? He was also missing his right eye, and all of his skin was covered except his face.  Oh, so the girl was Matilda, he remembered seeing her at the party.  She was tall, with long orange hair and blue eyes. She was also very pretty, but to be fair, so was Matt.  Tord could see where the two of them got their looks from.  So he could tell which one was the biological parent.

Except, Matilda and Matt both had features from their other dad, too.

Tord didn't dwell on it.  The nicer looking dad stood up, towering over Tord (shit, he was even taller than Matt), and stuck out his hand.  

"I'm Mathew, and you must be Tord?"

"Y-yes, sir..." Tord stuttered, a bit shy.  Mathew smiled at him, and gestured to his husband.  "This is Mathias." Mathias grunted in response, and ok, everyone is this god damn place had a weird ass name scheme going on.  Also, Matt's full name was Mathew, which meant.... He was probably Mathew JR.  Tord suppressed a laugh at that.  Matilda waved at Tord.

"Long time no see," She said, and winked.  Tord's face heated up at that, and then Matt grabbed his hand to drag him off, and he could feel his face turn a bright shade of red.

"We're going to the mall, be back later!" Matt shouted.

"Don't stay out too late, there's school tomorrow," Mathew shouted at him as the two left.  

Tord wanted to ask questions as the two made their way to the mall, and Matt's horribly off-pitch singing was hurting his ears, so he did.

"Uh, Matt, can I ask a.... personal question, I guess?" Tord says, and Matt looks at him briefly and nods.

"As long as it isn't about me making out with my clone, go ahead."

"You... wait, what?"

"Oh, you didn't see that... Forget I said that!"

"Uh, alright..." Tord takes a deep breath. "So... which one is your dad?"

"Both of them?"

"No, I mean... biological dad?" Off to a great start, Tord.

"Both of them." Both of them? Was that some sort of... weird magic thing that some people could do? "Dad number 1--Mathew-- is trans."

"He's..? Oh.  _Oh_." Tord mentally facepalmed. Right, he completely... spaced that option. "'Dad number one'?"

"Oh, yeah, I usually call him that when I'm talking to my friends so they don't get confused."

"That makes sense."

"Doesn't it? I mean sometimes I'll call my other dad by his hero name, but that's just... weird to me."

"Hero name?"

"Oh, yeah! Him and Edd's dad and Tom's dad used to fight 'villians' together.  Then Edd's dad went missing, and their main target went off the grid, so..." Matt shrugged. "They've retired for the moment. It's nice having both my dads at home, though, but judging by what's going on according to the news, I don't think he'll be home for much longer."

"What's...what's going on with the news?"

They've arrived at the mall apparently, but they're just sitting in the parked car, chatting.  Tord had a bad feeling.

"So, I'm not sure if it's true, but I guess the Red Army is showing back up.  Which means Red Leader is going to show up soon, too.  And that was who our dads were fighting against, all that 'arch-nemesis' shit."

Oh. Oh no. Ok, Tord did not like the sound of that  _at all_.

"I'm sure it's just the news making shit up to scare people?" Tord clears his throat.  Matt shrugs.

"I don't know...  But hey, let's get some food and shop since we're here!" Matt's entire demeanor changes, and he hops out of the car. The two head inside the mall, and Tord does his best to think about different things.  "What do you want to eat?" Matt asks once they reach the food court.

"Anything is fine."

"Hm.... Well, I should go back on carbs, since swim season starts up tomorrow.  How about Bread Basket?"

"Yeah, that's ok." Tord's never eaten there, but there were tons of sandwiches and pastas on the menu, and he liked both of those. "Wait--Matt, I don't have any cash."

"Oh, I got you covered! I have a bit of money saved up, from doing housework and babysitting." Matt smiles at him, and Tord gives a shy smile back.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem! What do you want?"

"Uh..." Tord rattles off what he wants, and Matt tells the cashier their order.  They sit at a lonely table as they await their food.

"So, Tord, tell me: anyone you have your eye on?" Matt winks at him, and Tord sputters and spits out the soda he had been sipping.  He coughs, and grabs a napkin from the center console to clean up the mess.

"I--excuse me?" God, it felt like every time he was with Matt, Matt found a way to embarrass him.

"You know, a crush?  Love interest, potential romantic partner, et cetera?" Matt waves his hand as if to dismiss the question.

"I'm... not sure?" Tord looks away.  A waitress or whatever from Bread Basket walks over then, handing them their food.  Perfect timing.

"You're not sure?" Matt asks, tearing at his bread and placing a small piece into his mouth. Tord stabs at his pasta.

"Well... It's.. complicated, I guess. I mean," He takes a bite of his pasta and finishes it before speaking again, "I've only had a crush once, and it didn't go very well, so... I'm not sure if I'm even relationship material."

"Oh, of course you are! You're-" Matt cuts himself off. "Well, you know, I know there's people interested in you."

"There are?"

"Of course!"

"Huh." Tord shrugs. He never saw himself as being particularly attractive, or someone people would want to date, but... Matt's words successfully boosted his self esteem.

They finished their food quietly, and when they were done, Matt took their trays to the bussing station. 

"I want to go to Ulta to pick up more lotion, but after that, we can go into any store that you want." And so they went to Ulta.

 

 

About an hour after Tord had left, Edd found himself at Tom's house.  Tom didn't bother to even put on clothes, he was just wearing boxers, but to be fair, Edd was dressed in sweats and a hoodie.  They sat in the game room and Tom put on some shitty movie while they sat there not paying attention to it.  Tom was the first one to speak.

"So, this thing Matt brought up..." Tom avoided looking at Edd when he said it, but Edd could see his cheeks go a shade darker.

"What about it?"

"I think that, maybe, I'm not opposed to it."

"Gaaaay," Edd snickers, and Tom swats his arm.

"Shut up!" He shrieks, and covers his face.  Edd pats his back.

"To be honest, I'm also... not opposed to it."

"Ugh. This is so fucking gay."

"Tom, you're gay."

"...Shit, you right."

"I just... What do we do about Tord? Are you guys even mildly interested in him? I don't want to like... invite him in if you guys don't want to date him as well."

It's quiet for a moment, and then Tom sighs.

"Honestly, the only reason I-and probably Matt, too- haven't like, went for him is because we can tell how into him you are."

"It's that obvious?"

"Holy shit, dude, I'm surprised Tord hasn't noticed." 

"So, you guys do like him, though?"

"I know Matt does, he's almost as obvious as you.  As for myself, I'm not sure- I think Tord's cute, but I'm not sure if my feelings go beyond sexual yet."

"Sexu--oh my god, Tom. Did not need to know that part."  Edd groans and rubs his eyes. Tom nudges his arm.

"You're just jealous."

"Tom, shut up." Edd lightly pushes Tom away. 

"We should probably let Matt know we're down for it. Then you can talk to Tord." Tom leans back on the sofa, and settles his arm behind Edd's shoulder. "In the mean time, wanna make out?"

"Seriously, Tom, shut up." But Edd leans in, and next thing he knows, their lips are pressed together and it's been  _too long_ since either of them have done this.  They get more into it, Tom's hands gripping Edd's waist, and Edd's arms are wrapped around Tom's shoulders.  Edd's ass brushed against Tom's crotch, and Tom let out a small gasp.

"Edd..." Tom paused to look at him, and then dove back in.  Edd pushed him away a bit and snickered.

"Oh my god, Tom, you have a boner." Edd laughed, and Tom groaned loudly.

"I am a teenage boy," He shifted, which caused him to rub against Edd briefly. "Are you gonna help me out?"

"A handy is the most you're getting."

"Edd, you're  _killing_ me."

 

 

The four were just chilling at Edd's later that night, Edd and Tom having arrived after Tord and Matt (they called right before Edd had the chance to do anything, and Tom almost cried from the lack of action and Edd just laughed at him.  But he had to return home to let Tord in).  So they were in Edd's room this time, since Edd's grandpa was downstairs watching tv, and the lot of them were just screwing around while music was playing (It was Edd's music this time, a mix between Gumi and vaporwave and Shawn Wasabi). Eventually, Matt and Tom had to leave, and Edd and Tord were left alone.  Tord goes to put on pajamas, and returns to Edd's room afterwards.

"What did you get from the mall?" Edd asks as he settles into bed.  Tord crawls in next to him.

"Matt bought me bath bombs from Lush, since I've never used one before.  He also convinced me to get eyeliner, because I guess he wants to put me in makeup or something since he can't wear it during swim season? I don't really know, but now I have expensive ass makeup in my name."

"Good ol' Matt. Don't worry, it'll look cute on you."

"Cute?" Tord sits up to look at him.

"Did I say cute? I meant... Um. Ok, cute it is."  Edd shrugs from where he is under the covers and Tord snorts.

"Yeah, ok, right."

"Don't roll your eyes at me, grumpy-pants. You're very cute. Now lay back down, you're pulling the covers away," Edd snuggles closer to Tord once he lays back down.  Tord is silent for a moment.

"You think I'm cute?"

Shit.  Well, it's now or never.

"Y-yeah... And handsome, and funny, and  _very_ charming," Edd grins, and Tord snorts again.  "Speaking of which, I have a very, totally serious question to ask you."

"Oh?" Tord studies his face for a moment, and he's a lot closer than Edd thought he was, and he wants to kiss him,  _could_ just close the space between them, but he doesn't.

"Yes.  I don't really know how to ask it, though," He looks up to the ceiling and closes his eyes for a moment, takes a deep breath, "Do you want to date me? And Matt and Tom?"

"Uh... all three of you?" Tord's staring at him, waiting for eye contact that doesn't come.

"Yeah? We'd like, all be dating each other.  I don't even know if there's a name for that..."

"A poly relationship?" Tord gulps, "I... Tom and Matt and you are already dating?"

"Well, we used to be, kind of, during freshman year. Then Matt and Mark got together, and that ended what we had. But, yes, as of today, if you're down, then..."

"I am.  Yes, I will.  Date you guys, that is." Tord's face is bright red and he's trying to hide it, and Edd wraps his arms around him and Tord buries his face into Edd's chest.  Edd's is fucking ecstatic. 

"I-I'll let the others know tomorrow. Oh my God, Tord, I'm--so happy, oh my God-" He nuzzles into Tord's hair and he can hear Tord giggle a bit. 

"Me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have a really bad head cold right now + im losing my voice?? uuuuugh
> 
> i will admit, toms texting is based off of my own. i call it: lazy and unphased and HOW COME WORDS ARENT SPELLED HOW THEY SOUND  
> Also the shrek musical soundtrack is good??????????fuck u
> 
> Not only does Tord listen to rap, he listens to really fucking weird rap, like slug christ and $uicideboy$ and flatbush zombies ... the list goes on.
> 
> How does matt even have his license? the world may never know. Also i have no idea if bread basket is a real place, i jjust made it up on the spot. ALos???? I rlly wanted to write a makeout scene,,,my poor gay ass,,gotta keep it pg13 tho., so its not detailed,,,,,,,RIP me 
> 
>  
> 
> im debating making a tumblr blog for this fic that way i can keep ppl posted abt updates, and talk abt stuff thats never gonna get explained (where did edds dad go, for example), etc etc. but. idk if thats even a good idea lmao. Also for me to help organize shit and so I can post my drawings related to this au bc im embarrassed to post my art to my main (i rlly want to doodle my highschool headcanons for the main 4). But *shrugs*


	13. sup guys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDAAAATE  
> Really it's just info on where to find the rewrite, etc.

 

Hey guys! I'm rewriting this, and the first chapter of the rewrite is up! Its over here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11845644/chapters/26741796

 

Sidenote!: I made a blog for this, it used to be ew-skyhigh-au, but recently I changed it to ew-hellblog (on tumblr)! Y'all can contact me there!


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